Donate to the Montana Heritage Commission today or sign up for a membership. The money goes to restoration and preservation of Virginia City, Montana, Nevada City, Montana and Reeder's Alley in Helena, Montana.

Where Montana History Lives

Some folks made a fortune here... but what they left behind is priceless.

All of Montana has the deepest pride and affection for Virginia City. No more colorful pioneer mining camp ever existed. Dramatic tales of the early days in this vicinity are legion. Rich placer diggings were discovered in Alder Gulch in the spring of 1863 and the stampede of gold seekers and their parasites was on! Sluices soon lined the gulch and various “cities” blossomed forth as trading and amusement centers for free-handed miners. Virginia City, the best known of these and the sole survivor, became the Capitol of the Territory (1864-1875).

The very much alive ghost town, Virginia City, Montana,is frozen in time. It is a remarkably well-preserved Old West Victorian gold mining town just 50 miles west of Yellowstone National Park (90 miles by road). When the gold ran out, there was still enough left so that homes and businesses were occupied, but there was not enough wealth to remodel the buildings. So it froze, and now represents the whole Victorian era. Virginia City is the true and original Old West. It is a gem, held within an incredibly rich area of naturalbeauty, recreation and history.

Virginia City and Nevada City lie along Alder Gulch about one mile apart, the site of the richest placer gold strike in the Rocky Mountains with an estimate total value of 100 million dollars throughout the 18th and 19th century. In the early 1860s, during the first three seasons, an estimated $30 million worth of gold was removed from the gulch. Stay the night in homey historic lodging, ride the train, pan for gold, attend a live theater show, shop in unique gift and specialty shops and enjoy fine dining and old-fashioned candy shop goods.